Bioactive substrate
 

Hey everybody,
I've been reading The Art of Keeping Snakes and I am intrigued by the idea of a bioactive substrate. Anybody out there have one set up? If so is it worth doing?

Did you try this yet? Can you explain more about it?

I actually have started using it with two of my snakes. It's basically using a substrate that is more naturalistic and has a micro-organisms in it. The micro-organisms break down wasted and you can plant the terrarium with live plants for a nicer looking display. So far I have been very satisfied with it. I think the snakes are too. Both of the king snakes I have on it are much calmer and tend to be out more exploring their cages. The one issue is that I think I had some fly eggs that came in with the soil I used, that have since hatched and is quite annoying.

Do you have a brand name, a link or something to the stuff you used. I would like to research and learn more about it.

Honestly, I just went to Lowes and just made sure to get stuff that didn't have any sort of fertilizers or pesticides in it. I did a 50/50 split of sand and topsoil. One of my tanks I set up to be a little more moist by adding in eco earth. I honestly didn't really pay attention to the brands though. I've heard of people getting a handful of soil from outside to jump start the micro-organisms. I didn't and my substrates still seem to work just fine. The book does talk about the need to stir the substrate every so often. But my snakes have been burrowing enough that I haven't considered it necessary. If you google bioactive substrate you will find a lot more detailed info than I think I can provide. Mine are pretty basic (for now).